'15 months since he left that room:' Carers urge support amid Govt push for National Care Service
Video report by ITV News reporter Barnaby Papadopulos
Michael Smith hasn't left his bedroom in fifteen months - and he's been housebound for at least two years.
His son, Paul, cares for him, a job which involves getting him ready in the morning and for bed, organising his medications, and preparing all his meals. It's a demanding job which saw him "reach breaking point," he explained, "as much as you care for the person."
"The more you do the more it just sort of presses down on you and sometimes you can feel trapped," he said.
"You can only go on caring for some day for so long before you know you'll reach a breaking point."
Paul is one of around twenty thousand unpaid carers estimated to be living in Dumfries and Galloway by the regions carers centre. Staff believe there could be more; people who look after elderly or sick relatives without quite seeing themselves as carers.
'You'll reach a breaking point'
Young carers are also vulnerable to isolation, with some having to give up social time with friends in order to care for relatives.
Thirteen-year-old Rachael said "my friends like going out...obviously I can't do that most of the time because I have to help it after my sister."
However, she was keen to stress the benefits of caring, as she enjoys a close relationship with her younger sister.
"We've got a really good relationship," she said.
"Although someone has a disability, they're just like the same as everyone else. And just because they have a disability, it doesn't mean that they can't do things."
The role unpaid carers perform is vital, not just to their loved ones, but to the wider health service. A number of hospitals in the region, including Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary and the Borders General Hospital, have put out statements in 2024 suggesting that services threaten to be overwhelmed.
This can be down to an inability to discharge patients from hospital, even if they're well enough to go home, due to a lack of suitable care options in the community.
Paul told ITV News that, without him, his Dad could have been in hospital for "months" while health officials tried to build a care package for him.
'Something drastic is needed'
The carers centre Chief Office Claudine Brindle said a National Care Service in Scotland could be the way to improve the situation, given the regions ageing population.
A bill to create one in Scotland is currently being reviewed in Holyrood. If passed, the Scottish Government want to transfer responsibility for social care to a new, nationwide service.
"Something drastic like that is needed to try and get the support services to the right places and to the people that need them," Claudine said.
"If a national care service can have some kind of impact on the availability and the amount of paid care staff that are out there. Through national recruitment drives, through national standards.
"If all those things can be introduced right across Scotland, that's something that hopefully would make a difference. And obviously that's a journey that we're at the beginning of at the moment."
Paul now receives help, with a paid carer coming round most mornings to help wash and dress his Dad. But he says the support is "barely" there, suggesting that more needs to be done.
"I know the people that care for my dad are short staffed and the rotation of people is very limited," he said.
A National Care Service for Scotland?
The Scottish Government has said it's committed to establishing a nationwide care service across Scotland.
They said the service, which they want to introduce by 2028, would standardise care across the country and support unpaid carers. Currently, most social care is provided by local authorities.
In a statement the Dumfries and Galloway Health and Social Care Partnership said: "Without the vital role played by the thousands of unpaid Carers in our region, our health and social care systems simply could not function.
Dumfries and Galloway Health and Social Care Partnership (DGHSCP) is working very closely with partner organisations including the local authority, care providers and care homes to increase social care capacity."
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